1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object holding apparatus for holding an object by means of a plurality of holding pins provided on a guide member.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, a robot for transporting an object, for example, has been contrived, which has a robot hand of the type capable of conforming to complication of the shape of the object.
An example of this type of robot hand has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2-185389. This is constructed such that a plurality of resiliently urged sleeve pins are provided on a pair of opposing fingers in a manner projecting therefrom so as to oppose one another. According to the robot hand constructed in this manner, when an object to be held is clamped between the fingers, those sleeve pins abutting against the object to be held are caused to fall into the finger portions correspondingly to the shape of the contour of the object to be held and those sleeve pins which are not caused to fall in are positioned to clamp the object to be held from the upper and lower portions thereof. The object to be held is therefore securely held by the robot hand.
In the case of the above conventional example, however, since the sleeve pins are resiliently urged, the held part in some cases is unable to resist the resilient force of the sleeve pins and is likely to be deformed if the object to be held is of soft material or is so structured.